Longtime anchor for Fox moving to CNN
NEW YORK — Veteran anchor Chris Wallace has left Fox News after 18 years for CNN, dealing a significant blow to Fox’s news operation at a time that it has been overshadowed by the network’s opinion side.
Wallace delivered the surprising news that he was leaving at the end of the “Fox News Sunday” show he moderates, and within two hours CNN announced he was joining its new streaming service as an anchor. CNN+ is expected to debut in early 2022.
“It is the last time, and I say this with real sadness, we will meet like this,” Wallace, who is 74, said on his show. “Eighteen years ago, the bosses here at Fox promised me they would never interfere with a guest I booked or a question I asked. And they kept that promise.”
Wallace was a veteran broadcast network newsman, working at both ABC and NBC News, before the late Roger Ailes lured him to Fox with the promise of his own Sunday show. Methodical and never showy — in contrast to his father, Mike, the legendary “60 Minutes” reporter — Chris Wallace was known for his willingness to ask hard questions of all guests no matter their politics.
He was the first Fox News personality to moderate a presidential debate, doing it in 2016 and 2020.
“He is the most tenacious interviewer in the television business, based on intense preparation and plain old persistence,” said Howard Kurtz, host of Fox’s “Media Buzz.” “He has the kind of seasoned judgment that only comes from so many years of covering political issues and he may be the best debate moderator ever.”
Wallace had expressed his concern about the strident opinion programming to Fox executives multiple times, including recently after Tucker Carlson’s documentary on the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, “Patriot Purge,” aired on Fox’s streaming service. Two Fox News contributors, Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes, cited that program in choosing to quit the network.
Wallace was one of a prominent triumvirate of straightnews anchors at Fox who offered a contrast to popular opinion hosts such as Carlson and Sean Hannity. Shepard Smith left in 2019 for CNBC. Bret Baier remains at Fox as host of a Washington-based evening news program.
His track record had given Wallace a large measure of independence at Fox. “I have been free to report to the best of my ability, to cover the stories I think are important, to hold our country’s leaders to account,” he said on Sunday. “It’s been a great ride.”
His announcement came as a surprise; even guests on his show Sunday didn’t know they were seeing his finale.
Wallace was coming to the end of his contract . But he turned down a multiyear extension and pay raise.
“We are extremely proud of our journalism and the stellar team that Chris Wallace was a part of for 18 years,” Fox said on Sunday. “The legacy of ‘Fox News Sunday’ will continue.”
Until a successor is named, Fox said Wallace will be replaced by a rotating series of guest anchors, including Baier, John Roberts, Shannon Bream, Martha Maccallum, Jennifer Griffin, Neil Cavuto, Dana Perino and Bill Hemmer.
CNN said more details about Wallace’s new role will be forthcoming.